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Official agent skill

Writing Simplified Technical English

by PostHog in PostHog/posthog

Write English that a reader cannot misread: one meaning per word, active voice, simple tenses, one idea per sentence, short sentences.

OfficialCustom licenceAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Writing Simplified Technical English

skills CLI
$ npx skills add PostHog/posthog --skill writing-simplified-technical-english -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install PostHog/posthog writing-simplified-technical-english --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/PostHog/posthog.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/products/posthog_ai/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english .claude/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
writing-simplified-technical-english
GitHub stars
40k
Token cost
~1.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
625 words
Files
3 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
254
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Custom licence

At a glance

Write English that a reader cannot misread: one meaning per word, active voice, simple tenses, one idea per sentence, short sentences.

  • Works in 4 steps: Read the text once for meaning. Do not… → Go sentence by sentence. Name the rule… → Rewrite the sentence to fix that break.… → …
  • Any prose an agent produces that someone else acts on
  • SKILL.md covers When to use this, The rules, How to rewrite and Self-check, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Writing Simplified Technical English is an agent skill from PostHog/posthog, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Write English that a reader cannot misread: one meaning per word, active voice, simple tenses, one idea per sentence, short sentences. Based on ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English), the controlled-language standard written for aircraft maintenance manuals. Use it for any prose an agent produces that someone else acts on. That covers reports and findings, PR descriptions and commit messages, instructions handed to another agent, tool descriptions, error messages, status summaries, and prompts. Also use it on…

Its SKILL.md is about 1.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files, including reference files (for example `references/before-after.md` and `references/writing-rules.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Pull requests and Commit messages. The repository describes itself as: :hedgehog: PostHog is the leading platform for building self-driving products. Our developer tools – AI observability, analytics, session replay, flags, experiments, error…

When your agent uses it

  • Any prose an agent produces that someone else acts on
  • Like simplify this
  • Make this readable
  • Simplified technical english

Example prompts

  • “simplify this”
  • “make this readable”
  • “too dense”
  • “/writing-simplified-technical-english”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Read the text once for meaning. Do not start rewriting before you know what it must still say.
  2. Go sentence by sentence. Name the rule each sentence breaks.
  3. Rewrite the sentence to fix that break. Keep every fact, number, condition, and qualifier.
  4. Check the result against the rules again. A rewrite often introduces a new long sentence.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit c012c8d. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Writing Simplified Technical English loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 175 tokens; SKILL.md has 625 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~175
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.4k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~3.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 625 words (~1,394 tokens).

“ASD-STE100 is a controlled-language standard. The aerospace and defense industry wrote it so that a technician cannot misread a maintenance instruction. It removes the two biggest sources of misreading: words that carry more than one meaning, and sentences that support…”

— opening of SKILL.md by PostHog, Custom licence
name
writing-simplified-technical-english

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in products/posthog_ai/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english of PostHog/posthog.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/before-after.md
  • references/writing-rules.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit c012c8d

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders. This page covers the copy in PostHog/posthog, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Writing Simplified Technical English next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Writing Simplified Technical English compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Writing Simplified Technical English this skillPostHog/posthog40k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
PR Finalize Reviewmicrosoft/garnet12k—~3.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Git Workflow and Versioningaddyosmani/agent-skills105k2 repos~3.5kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
React Router Pull Request Creatorremix-run/react-router57k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Verdaccio Pull Request Workflowverdaccio/verdaccio18k—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Citus Merge Loopcitusdata/citus13k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0

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Categories

Questions about Writing Simplified Technical English

What does Writing Simplified Technical English do?

Write English that a reader cannot misread: one meaning per word, active voice, simple tenses, one idea per sentence, short sentences. Writing Simplified Technical English is an agent skill from PostHog/posthog, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Write English that a reader cannot misread: one meaning per word, active voice, simple tenses, one idea per sentence, short sentences.

When should I use Writing Simplified Technical English?

Writing Simplified Technical English fits situations like: any prose an agent produces that someone else acts on; like simplify this; make this readable; simplified technical english.

How do I install Writing Simplified Technical English in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add PostHog/posthog --skill writing-simplified-technical-english -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (products/posthog_ai/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english in PostHog/posthog) into .claude/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Writing Simplified Technical English in Codex?

Run `npx skills add PostHog/posthog --skill writing-simplified-technical-english -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (products/posthog_ai/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english in PostHog/posthog) into .agents/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Writing Simplified Technical English in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add PostHog/posthog --skill writing-simplified-technical-english -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english, .gemini/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english, .github/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english and .opencode/skills/writing-simplified-technical-english in your project.

What does Writing Simplified Technical English need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Writing Simplified Technical English is instructions for the agent only.

Does Writing Simplified Technical English access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Writing Simplified Technical English safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Writing Simplified Technical English use?

Writing Simplified Technical English has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.

How many tokens does Writing Simplified Technical English use?

About 1.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1.8k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Writing Simplified Technical English?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Writing Simplified Technical English: PR Finalize Review (microsoft/garnet, 12k stars), Git Workflow and Versioning (addyosmani/agent-skills, 105k stars), React Router Pull Request Creator (remix-run/react-router, 57k stars) and Verdaccio Pull Request Workflow (verdaccio/verdaccio, 18k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Writing Simplified Technical English?

PostHog (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in PostHog/posthog, which has 40,209 GitHub stars. The repository holds 254 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: PostHog/posthog on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.